{"id":654827,"date":"2025-05-17T16:25:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T20:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=654827"},"modified":"2025-05-17T16:25:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T20:25:48","slug":"chelsea-ben-nelson-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/05\/17\/chelsea-ben-nelson-transfer\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Perfect’ Centre Back Linked With Chelsea Transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"

21-year-old Leicester City defender Ben Nelson has been a breakout star in the Championship this year. The England International at youth level went on a season-long loan with Oxford United, where he caught the eye of some of the biggest clubs in the country. Amid his boyhood <\/span>club’s<\/span> second relegation in three years, could he be on the move to Chelsea?<\/span><\/p>\n

Chelsea <\/span>Reveal<\/span> Interest In Ben Nelson From Leicester<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ben Nelson On The Move?<\/span><\/h3>\n

After a fantastic loan spell in the second tier, it <\/span>comes as<\/span> no surprise that Chelsea would be interested in the youngster. As revealed by\u00a0<\/span>John Percy,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Chelsea is interested in signing the player.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u2018<\/span>I <\/span>Don\u2019t<\/span> Want To Rule Anything Out<\/span>\u2019 <\/span>Striker Hints At Summer Exit From Wolves<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Enzo Maresca gave Nelson his first minutes for Leicester following loan spells at Rochdale and Doncaster Rovers. In the 2023\/24 season, Nelson played <\/span>on nine occasions<\/span> under his then-manager, scoring his first professional goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Percy would also go on to report that Maresca is a<\/span> ‘<\/span>huge admirer<\/span>‘ <\/span>of the centre-back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing Style<\/span><\/h3>\n

As a modern-day defender, Nelson has a well-rounded skill set. Standing at over 6 feet 3 inches tall, he is physically imposing. This part of his game has improved tremendously at Oxford, where he has <\/span>been depended<\/span> upon much more. Furthermore, on the ball, he is also comfortable. <\/span>This<\/span> was shown more throughout his games last season with the Foxes, as <\/span>Maresca’s<\/span> system relied upon playing out from the back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u2018<\/span>Agreement <\/span>Sealed\u2019<\/span>: Chelsea Lose Out On \u00a350 Million Defender Close to European <\/span>Transfer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

In addition, he<\/span> also has leadership qualities. <\/span>He<\/span> was named the Academy Player Of The Season in 20220\/21 <\/span>at just 17 years old<\/span> and even captained the side.<\/span><\/p>\n

All these attributes make him <\/span>an obvious<\/span> option for <\/span>Maresca’s<\/span> possession-based Chelsea. When talking about the Englishmen last season,\u00a0<\/span>he said<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> \u201c<\/span>He\u2019s<\/span> quick. He can play right or left \u2014 <\/span>it\u2019s<\/span> perfect<\/span>,\u201d.<\/span> Being <\/span>this versatile<\/span> and comfortable on both feet is also key, especially when finding new passing angles. Despite this, his former manager also noted his shortcomings, as he explained,<\/span> ” <\/span>He has many things to improve, but for sure, in terms of being an ideal central defender, he is probably the ideal one because <\/span>he\u2019s<\/span> quick, can play right or left, and he is big<\/span>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Ben Nelson Would Suit Chelsea<\/span><\/h3>\n

Under Maresca, possession has been a key proponent of his style. When looking at the statistics, the Blues rank joint-second for possession in the league with 57.6%. A major part of this comes from the centre-backs and especially Levi Colwill, as he is\u00a0<\/span>fourth in the league for touches<\/span><\/a> and\u00a0completed the <\/span>most passes<\/span><\/a> for his side.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u2018<\/span>Opening Bid<\/span>\u2019 <\/span>in the<\/span> \u2018<\/span>Coming Week<\/span>s\u2019:<\/span> Manchester City Set to Accelerate Pursuit for Midfield Target<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Therefore, Nelson would fit this style due to his ball-playing abilities. <\/span>Being ambipedal<\/span> is also a unique attribute, which would help in ball progression, especially with diagonal passes out wide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, the young defender certainly has the potential to lead a top <\/span>side’s<\/span> backline. However, going to Chelsea now could stunt his development. <\/span>This<\/span> is because he<\/span> would often be on the bench and potentially only play cup games. At 21 years old, this could be detrimental, so a season with Leicester in the Championship may also be his best option.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21-year-old Leicester City defender Ben Nelson has been a breakout star in the Championship this year. The England International at youth level went on a season-long loan with Oxford United, where he caught the eye of some of the biggest clubs in the country. Amid his boyhood club’s second relegation in three years, could he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5391,"featured_media":647828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,7188],"tags":[32121,8611],"class_list":["post-654827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-chelsea","category-rumours","tag-ben-nelson","tag-chelsea-transfer-rumours"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654827"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654867,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654827\/revisions\/654867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}